Bloodangel - Prologue
A golden eyed young man about eighteen ran down a dark hallway, stumbling at times.
The heck? Is that Kurai?
Opening a door to his right, the boy stepped inside and carefully shut the door.
Moonlight illuminated the small room, streaming in through the window. Two beds sat on either side of the room. In one lay a seven year old girl with shoulder length wavy black hair.
That’s me.
In the other was an eighteen year old girl who bore a remarkable likeness to the boy.
Hikari?
Both girls lay in their respective beds, blissfully asleep.
Swiftly, the boy crossed to where the older of the two girls was sleeping. He shook her roughly, softly calling, “Hikari! Hikari! Wake up!”
Slowly her lids opened to reveal golden eyes, identical to the boy’s. “Kurai?” she asked her twin, her voice slurred with drowsiness.
His voice was hushed as he spoke rapidly. “Hikari, we don’t have much time. Their coming, I saw them running up the driveway when I went to get a drink. Wake Luna, we need to get going.”
Her eyes widened as she recognized what this meant. Their fears had been realized.
Oh, I get it. I’m remembering that night. Something feels different, though. Maybe I’m dreaming about it? Wouldn't be the first time...
She threw the covers aside and sat up, shivering a bit at the sudden chill.
As she moved over to the other bed, Kurai opened the window as wide as it would go, thanking their luck that it faced the backyard instead of the front. He dropped to the floor in front of Hikari’s bed. From underneath it, he pulled out three objects; a long rope ladder, a black duffel bag, and a sheathed knife.
Meanwhile, Hikari was lightly tapping the face of the younger girl, gently calling, “Luna. Time to wake up, Lulu.”
Only Hikari could ever get away with calling me that.
The girl’s silver eyes opened, hazy from tiredness. “Big Sis, what’s wrong?” her high pitched voice asked. She noticed it was still dark, not yet time to wake up. The only other reason she would wake her up was if she'd had a… “Did you have a bad dream?”
Hikari smiled affectionately. “No, no bad dreams. But we have to get up.”
Luna’s small face scrunched up in confusion. “Why?”
The older girl took a breath. “Do you remember us saying that sometime soon, something bad might happen to us unless we left?”
The young girl’s eyes widened as she nodded. She had hoped that they were only trying to scare her when they had said all that. Evidently, they hadn’t been. Hikari pushed the covers aside and Luna took that as her cue to get out of the bed. The girls wore matching white nightgowns.
I remember those nightgowns. Mom had gotten them for us the year before, on our last Christmas as a family.
The boy, clad only in white pants, looked at his sisters for a moment. "Why does this shit always seem to happen to us?" He wondered in a whisper.
I ask myself that a lot, Brother.
He shook his head to clear it. “I know that the two of you are tired but I need you to be as alert as possible, okay?”
Both girls nodded.
“Good.”
He placed the dagger on the desk next to Hikari’s bed, tossing the black bag to Hikari. He then proceeded to hook the ladder onto two thick nails that were sticking out of the wall. He placed the rest of the rope ladder carefully onto the ground for now.
Hikari dug through the bag, pulling out another sheathed knife, two leather jackets, and three pairs of different sized jeans and sneakers. She placed the knife on the bed nearest her, handing Kurai and Luna each a pair of jeans and shoes. The three siblings slipped them on without a word, Luna and Hikari turning their backs so that their older brother could at least have some semblance of privacy. Kurai slipped on his jacket as well but Hikari hesitated, realizing that they had forgotten to pack Luna’s jacket in the bag. She handed hers to the young girl, who smiled up at her as she put it on.
Even as a teenager, Hikari always thought of me first.
“Thanks, Big Sis.”
I wondered briefly where I had picked up the habit of calling them “Sis” and “Brother” instead of their given names.
Hikari nodded with a small smile and grabbed her knife, clasping it to the waist of her jeans as her brother did the same with his. She opened her wardrobe to retrieve a black turtleneck from the closet, shoving her nightgown into the bag along with Kurai’s pants.
She was glad he’d thought to pack the bag ahead of time. It was currently full of another change of clothes for each of them, extra blankets (in case they had to sleep outside), a few hundred dollars in cash, and a few other miscellaneous items they might end up needing.
She turned and couldn’t help but marvel for a moment at how strange her younger sister looked dressed in jeans, a white nightgown that reached just past her knees, a black leather jacket that was way too big for her, and tennis shoes. The sight made her chuckle a bit.
Yeah, yeah, laugh away.
Kurai noticed what his twin was looking at and smiled. Then he stiffened. His eyes closed and he looked like he was trying to listen to something. Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass could be heard from the floor below.
Crap.
Several things seemed to happen at once. First, Hikari grabbed the duffel bag and Luna’s hand. Second, Kurai threw down the rest of the ladder, causing a loud bang as it hit the house on its way down. Lastly, the shouts and stomping feet of the trespassers could be heard coming into the house.
No!
Hikari quickly shimmied out the window and down the ladder. Kurai threw the duffel bag down and trusted his twin to catch it. He lifted Luna up and out of the window and waited until she had a good grip on the ladder and nodded at him before letting her go. She began her descent, shaky, and much slower than her sister’s. The trespassers were done downstairs and could be heard coming up the staircase.
No!
Half way down the ladder, Luna froze with fear as she heard the door to her room banging open.
“Go!” Kurai shouted to the girls. “I’ll meet up with you later!”
“But, Big Brother-” Luna started. She was cut off by the window above her closing. “Brother!”
“It’s okay,” Hikari soothed from below. “He’ll be fine. He won’t let himself get hurt.”
“But...” The young girl looked up once more. “But, Sis, he’ll-”
BANG!
NO!
A gunshot rang out. The window pane shattered into a million pieces as a bullet whizzed through it. Luna cried out as some shards ripped her skin in places. Luckily, her jacket protected most of her.
“Luna!” Hikari yelled.
She looked up again, hoping her brother would be there, smiling down at her.
A man was there, and he was smiling. But it wasn’t her brother, and the smile he wore was pure evil. He pointed a small gun-like weapon at the girl and pulled the trigger before she had time to register what was going on.
NO!!!
Pain exploded in her left eye. A small piece of metal stuck half way out of the squishy orb.
No...
The little girl cried out in agony, losing her grip on the ladder. She fell into the arms of her sister.
“Oh no,” the older girl said. She then grabbed the bag and raced towards the woods with Luna in her arms, dodging the occasional darts and bullets.
I’m so sorry, Hikari. I'm so sorry.
After a while of running at full speed, she couldn’t go any longer. She dropped to her knees, placing Luna, who had long since passed out, onto the forest floor, he knees serving as a pillow for the younger girl’s head. She placed the duffel bag not too far away.
Suddenly, she had flashes of her mother in the hospital, there due to a dart, not unlike the one in her sister’s eye. The dart had only hit her arm, but it had held a deathly poison which slowly made its way through the her body, eventually killing her. There was no cure. And so their mother had died an agonizing death, a fate that Luna may be facing if that dart wasn’t taken out of her soon.
“Should I take it out? Shit, shit, shit! Oh, Kurai, where are you?” Hikari asked no one.
“Right here.”
Hikari whipped around to face her twin brother, eyes wild with fear and worry.
“What should we do?” she asked as the boy knelt down next to her.
“We need to take it out.”
“But all of the books I’ve read say to leave the item in the wound until professional help gets here!”
“I don’t have a phone on me, do you?” snapped Kurai. “Besides, I’m more worried about the poison than anything else.”
The golden eyed girl bit her lip. She looked back down into the face of her sister. A trail of blood was dripping from her eye, down her cheek. Like she was crying blood. The sight made her shudder. Shaking her head, she looked over to her twin. “I don’t think I can do it.”
After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. Kurai looked down at his sister, wrapping his hand around the part of the the dart sticking out, his other arm moving Luna so she was now in his lap. His twin’s body shook with anxiety. He tried hard to keep his own hand steady as he pulled out the poisonous object.
Luna and Hikari’s nightgowns: http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/131/1/AAAAAsqSP2gAAAAAATEX_A.jpg?v=1218899591000
Please leave a comment before you go! Thanks!
The heck? Is that Kurai?
Opening a door to his right, the boy stepped inside and carefully shut the door.
Moonlight illuminated the small room, streaming in through the window. Two beds sat on either side of the room. In one lay a seven year old girl with shoulder length wavy black hair.
That’s me.
In the other was an eighteen year old girl who bore a remarkable likeness to the boy.
Hikari?
Both girls lay in their respective beds, blissfully asleep.
Swiftly, the boy crossed to where the older of the two girls was sleeping. He shook her roughly, softly calling, “Hikari! Hikari! Wake up!”
Slowly her lids opened to reveal golden eyes, identical to the boy’s. “Kurai?” she asked her twin, her voice slurred with drowsiness.
His voice was hushed as he spoke rapidly. “Hikari, we don’t have much time. Their coming, I saw them running up the driveway when I went to get a drink. Wake Luna, we need to get going.”
Her eyes widened as she recognized what this meant. Their fears had been realized.
Oh, I get it. I’m remembering that night. Something feels different, though. Maybe I’m dreaming about it? Wouldn't be the first time...
She threw the covers aside and sat up, shivering a bit at the sudden chill.
As she moved over to the other bed, Kurai opened the window as wide as it would go, thanking their luck that it faced the backyard instead of the front. He dropped to the floor in front of Hikari’s bed. From underneath it, he pulled out three objects; a long rope ladder, a black duffel bag, and a sheathed knife.
Meanwhile, Hikari was lightly tapping the face of the younger girl, gently calling, “Luna. Time to wake up, Lulu.”
Only Hikari could ever get away with calling me that.
The girl’s silver eyes opened, hazy from tiredness. “Big Sis, what’s wrong?” her high pitched voice asked. She noticed it was still dark, not yet time to wake up. The only other reason she would wake her up was if she'd had a… “Did you have a bad dream?”
Hikari smiled affectionately. “No, no bad dreams. But we have to get up.”
Luna’s small face scrunched up in confusion. “Why?”
The older girl took a breath. “Do you remember us saying that sometime soon, something bad might happen to us unless we left?”
The young girl’s eyes widened as she nodded. She had hoped that they were only trying to scare her when they had said all that. Evidently, they hadn’t been. Hikari pushed the covers aside and Luna took that as her cue to get out of the bed. The girls wore matching white nightgowns.
I remember those nightgowns. Mom had gotten them for us the year before, on our last Christmas as a family.
The boy, clad only in white pants, looked at his sisters for a moment. "Why does this shit always seem to happen to us?" He wondered in a whisper.
I ask myself that a lot, Brother.
He shook his head to clear it. “I know that the two of you are tired but I need you to be as alert as possible, okay?”
Both girls nodded.
“Good.”
He placed the dagger on the desk next to Hikari’s bed, tossing the black bag to Hikari. He then proceeded to hook the ladder onto two thick nails that were sticking out of the wall. He placed the rest of the rope ladder carefully onto the ground for now.
Hikari dug through the bag, pulling out another sheathed knife, two leather jackets, and three pairs of different sized jeans and sneakers. She placed the knife on the bed nearest her, handing Kurai and Luna each a pair of jeans and shoes. The three siblings slipped them on without a word, Luna and Hikari turning their backs so that their older brother could at least have some semblance of privacy. Kurai slipped on his jacket as well but Hikari hesitated, realizing that they had forgotten to pack Luna’s jacket in the bag. She handed hers to the young girl, who smiled up at her as she put it on.
Even as a teenager, Hikari always thought of me first.
“Thanks, Big Sis.”
I wondered briefly where I had picked up the habit of calling them “Sis” and “Brother” instead of their given names.
Hikari nodded with a small smile and grabbed her knife, clasping it to the waist of her jeans as her brother did the same with his. She opened her wardrobe to retrieve a black turtleneck from the closet, shoving her nightgown into the bag along with Kurai’s pants.
She was glad he’d thought to pack the bag ahead of time. It was currently full of another change of clothes for each of them, extra blankets (in case they had to sleep outside), a few hundred dollars in cash, and a few other miscellaneous items they might end up needing.
She turned and couldn’t help but marvel for a moment at how strange her younger sister looked dressed in jeans, a white nightgown that reached just past her knees, a black leather jacket that was way too big for her, and tennis shoes. The sight made her chuckle a bit.
Yeah, yeah, laugh away.
Kurai noticed what his twin was looking at and smiled. Then he stiffened. His eyes closed and he looked like he was trying to listen to something. Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass could be heard from the floor below.
Crap.
Several things seemed to happen at once. First, Hikari grabbed the duffel bag and Luna’s hand. Second, Kurai threw down the rest of the ladder, causing a loud bang as it hit the house on its way down. Lastly, the shouts and stomping feet of the trespassers could be heard coming into the house.
No!
Hikari quickly shimmied out the window and down the ladder. Kurai threw the duffel bag down and trusted his twin to catch it. He lifted Luna up and out of the window and waited until she had a good grip on the ladder and nodded at him before letting her go. She began her descent, shaky, and much slower than her sister’s. The trespassers were done downstairs and could be heard coming up the staircase.
No!
Half way down the ladder, Luna froze with fear as she heard the door to her room banging open.
“Go!” Kurai shouted to the girls. “I’ll meet up with you later!”
“But, Big Brother-” Luna started. She was cut off by the window above her closing. “Brother!”
“It’s okay,” Hikari soothed from below. “He’ll be fine. He won’t let himself get hurt.”
“But...” The young girl looked up once more. “But, Sis, he’ll-”
BANG!
NO!
A gunshot rang out. The window pane shattered into a million pieces as a bullet whizzed through it. Luna cried out as some shards ripped her skin in places. Luckily, her jacket protected most of her.
“Luna!” Hikari yelled.
She looked up again, hoping her brother would be there, smiling down at her.
A man was there, and he was smiling. But it wasn’t her brother, and the smile he wore was pure evil. He pointed a small gun-like weapon at the girl and pulled the trigger before she had time to register what was going on.
NO!!!
Pain exploded in her left eye. A small piece of metal stuck half way out of the squishy orb.
No...
The little girl cried out in agony, losing her grip on the ladder. She fell into the arms of her sister.
“Oh no,” the older girl said. She then grabbed the bag and raced towards the woods with Luna in her arms, dodging the occasional darts and bullets.
I’m so sorry, Hikari. I'm so sorry.
After a while of running at full speed, she couldn’t go any longer. She dropped to her knees, placing Luna, who had long since passed out, onto the forest floor, he knees serving as a pillow for the younger girl’s head. She placed the duffel bag not too far away.
Suddenly, she had flashes of her mother in the hospital, there due to a dart, not unlike the one in her sister’s eye. The dart had only hit her arm, but it had held a deathly poison which slowly made its way through the her body, eventually killing her. There was no cure. And so their mother had died an agonizing death, a fate that Luna may be facing if that dart wasn’t taken out of her soon.
“Should I take it out? Shit, shit, shit! Oh, Kurai, where are you?” Hikari asked no one.
“Right here.”
Hikari whipped around to face her twin brother, eyes wild with fear and worry.
“What should we do?” she asked as the boy knelt down next to her.
“We need to take it out.”
“But all of the books I’ve read say to leave the item in the wound until professional help gets here!”
“I don’t have a phone on me, do you?” snapped Kurai. “Besides, I’m more worried about the poison than anything else.”
The golden eyed girl bit her lip. She looked back down into the face of her sister. A trail of blood was dripping from her eye, down her cheek. Like she was crying blood. The sight made her shudder. Shaking her head, she looked over to her twin. “I don’t think I can do it.”
After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. Kurai looked down at his sister, wrapping his hand around the part of the the dart sticking out, his other arm moving Luna so she was now in his lap. His twin’s body shook with anxiety. He tried hard to keep his own hand steady as he pulled out the poisonous object.
Luna and Hikari’s nightgowns: http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/131/1/AAAAAsqSP2gAAAAAATEX_A.jpg?v=1218899591000
Please leave a comment before you go! Thanks!